NWTF layoffs

[Happy]

However anyone that cares about turkeys just let me know and send me a membership fee of $100.00 after that you can come and improve some "habitat". I had a hen with poults walk through the back yard the other day. The grass was a touch high and I would hate for the hen to lose one of her babies. Just to be fair i will donate the use of my mower to trim it down as long as someone else is willing to operate it. $15.00 of your membership fee will go to gas so you can feel good about that as well.

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[ShootingABN!]

However anyone that cares about turkeys just let me know and send me a membership fee of $100.00 after that you can come and improve some "habitat". I had a hen with poults walk through the back yard the other day. The grass was a touch high and I would hate for the hen to lose one of her babies. Just to be fair i will donate the use of my mower to trim it down as long as someone else is willing to operate it. $15.00 of your membership fee will go to gas so you can feel good about that as well.

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What no magazine?

[guesswho]

However anyone that cares about turkeys just let me know and send me a membership fee of $100.00 after that you can come and improve some "habitat". I had a hen with poults walk through the back yard the other day. The grass was a touch high and I would hate for the hen to lose one of her babies. Just to be fair i will donate the use of my mower to trim it down as long as someone else is willing to operate it. $15.00 of your membership fee will go to gas so you can feel good about that as well.

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Does the membership come with a hat that has a middle finger emoji with N"WTF"  underneath it?   If so sign me up, and I'll even bring the gas.

[eggshell]

A list of what I, family and a friend have done on mine, friend's and family land:

Maintained a managed timber plan
Controlled mowing plan
Select harvest
established shelter belts
established travel lanes
planted food plots
Have a manged harvest plan
Timber stand improvement project
Invasive species removal
predator removal
Even tried winter feeding
Maintain fields and edges
Maintained ponds and wetlands

30 years ago we got assistance from the NWTF on several of these. Then poof nothing for 30 years, until last year when a forester showed up.

[Happy]

However anyone that cares about turkeys just let me know and send me a membership fee of $100.00 after that you can come and improve some "habitat". I had a hen with poults walk through the back yard the other day. The grass was a touch high and I would hate for the hen to lose one of her babies. Just to be fair i will donate the use of my mower to trim it down as long as someone else is willing to operate it. $15.00 of your membership fee will go to gas so you can feel good about that as well.

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Does the membership come with a hat that has a middle finger emoji with N"WTF"  underneath it?   If so sign me up, and I'll even bring the gas.

Magazines and hats would have to be offered at an additional fee. Otherwise you would cut into my profit err I mean habitat money.

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[Greg Massey]

Membership does come with 25 dollar Bass Pro gift card...

[Greg Massey]

However anyone that cares about turkeys just let me know and send me a membership fee of $100.00 after that you can come and improve some "habitat". I had a hen with poults walk through the back yard the other day. The grass was a touch high and I would hate for the hen to lose one of her babies. Just to be fair i will donate the use of my mower to trim it down as long as someone else is willing to operate it. $15.00 of your membership fee will go to gas so you can feel good about that as well.

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Happy , it all depends on how old your mower is before i make the trip.. 

[Boykin Hollow]

www.charitynavigator.org gives them a 87.30 score out of 100 and 3 out of 4 stars.  Just saying

[silvestris]

The question that should have been asked in 1973, and that is still relevant today, is "how can a national organization have any significant impact on a species that is not migratory."  And we are left with the unintended consequences.

[Goodtimekiller]

Great, so everyone can list work they did on their own land as volunteering for wildlife. It seems like this thread is full of millennial folk that just sit back and say look at all i've done to help myself, the nwtf will not help me personally, screw them.


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[ChiefBubba]

I've been reading along and wasn't sure about commenting. I give yearly probably multiple times. Like all national originations they have plenty of faults. Not everyone is going to agree with what they do. Especially in todays America when it's all about "ME" anything is only as good as what have you done for me lately. Like someone said Turkey's aren't migratory birds so whatever happens in North Dakota doesn't benefit Texas. I know plenty of duck hunters that still complain about habitat that get's worked on anywhere but their back yard.
I'm a board member of a duck group here in Florida for Florida only. Our biggest problem is signing up members and raising money. We run youth hunt's all over the state every year and most guy's donate time and money that doesn't even come out of the organizations bank account. We have done a big Waterfowl summit every year with FWC and other state groups. And still we scramble every year for members and money for that. BTW A huge thanks goe's out to Misfire for the Wood Duck call he donates every year for the youth hunt's. I can count on one hand the members and board members that are showing up at meetings to work to get land for recreating on  and hunting. Although this is a duck group I know by showing up at one of these meetings it could benefit turkey's and deer and all hunting.
One of the reasons I didn't post earlier is I'm used to the keyboard pounders that have never set foot in a meeting or made a phone call or sent an email.
We spend way more then 35 bucks on cheap Chinese Walmart crap or Chinese crap from bass Pro or any other store. Bubba

What have you done for me lately?

[Jstocks]

I was a volunteer for more than a decade. Helped start a banquets back in the late 90's early 2000's. We had the banquet at the local college cafeteria and it was a no alcohol family setting. We did very well with the banquet and Mr. Joe Woods was the NWTF employee that oversaw it. There were a lot of folks who came to the banquet that didn't even turkey hunt. I had family that would come and support the auctions and raffles and have a good time, and they never stepped foot in the turkey woods. As far as they were concerned it was a fun night out, a good dinner, and all with the local community folks that they didn't see often.
Things started to change for the worse. I'm lot sure if they fired Joe or just moved him out and put this younger fella in there. Well, the younger fella was a smart butt, didn't care about none of the folks who volunteered, and came across as trying to milk everyone for all they were worth. He wanted to start charging the kids to enter the banquets and eat their meals.... our banquet was always run where the kids entered and ate free. And I tell you what, we always covered expenses and made the NWTF money like that. This new guy has all these new games he wanted us to try to use to get more money from the folks. The people who attended were folks we all knew as family, friends, fellow hunters, and co workers. Just didn't sit well with most of us. This ol boy found out real quick like that kind of stuff loses you your key people real quick. I quit volunteering because I moved to another state for work, and to be honest, I was glad to have a legitimate excuse to be removed from a situation that I helped get off the ground. I haven't been a member since.

I'm sure they got some good folks that work with them, but I can't support something that seems to only our to pillage the pockets of the very folks that built it's foundation. We are the people this organization is supposed to serve. The NWTF needs to look internally for its failures. This reflection will should show that greed and lack of focus on its roots caused its current state, not covid.

[Spurs Up]

Didn't this thread start out having something to do with layoffs of people? Layoffs affect families. Some NWTF employees might even be passionate about turkeys. Almost as much you. I'm not an NWTF member or fan, but layoffs under any circumstance are unfortunate and sad; especially in this one, but only if you have any shred of compassion for others.

Almost as sad, there are some here who have lots of great ideas for other people and organizations to do. "It's not the critic who counts..."

[eggshell]

Great, so everyone can list work they did on their own land as volunteering for wildlife. It seems like this thread is full of millennial folk that just sit back and say look at all i've done to help myself, the nwtf will not help me personally, screw them.

You asked -

If you are, give some examples, if not, you have no table to stand on.

So I gave my examples, sorry it offended you.

Actually if all landowners done what they could it does benefit everyone. wildlife spreads out on to all the surrounding properties too.

Spurs up, you are right it is sad to see people lose jobs. It's not that we don't have compassion. I look at it more as a discussion of why it happened.

Ultimately the states hold the responsibility to manage, whatever help they can get is only going to make it better. I donate to my state's Wildlife agency's habitat fund directly when I purchase my annual license. That way I know most of it goes to wildlife, not fund raising.

It is sad that these threads lead to so much contention. I have no doubt that everyone who has commented has a deep rooted love and concern for the state of the Wild Turkey, or they wouldn't be posting so passionately. I hope we can all accept the different views and beliefs and maybe take away something good. I imagine we have all donated time, love and money to this sport and I for one am grateful for all the hard work. There is no way possible to know of the countless hours given by anyone or lack of from an internet forum. So we just have to offer our thoughts and leave it at that, I hope there are no hard feelings and we can learn from one another. Leaving the NWTF did not mean I left turkeys behind, it just meant I took a different road in helping.

[buzzardroost]

 My reasons for not continuing my membership are fairly simple. They have done nothing vocal to address declining turkey populations. They have done nothing to address the "hunters" crawling behind fans and all that nonsense. In fact, the nonsense is promoted at the NWTF show. It's that simple for me, ethics are important.